Fast Company Names PayPal the Most Innovative Financial Services Company

By: eBay Inc. Staff

Editors cited the company’s “radical move” in opening up its platform to developers.

“For leading the charge on digital money,” Fast Company magazine has named PayPal the most innovative financial services firm, atop a list of prominent players including Citibank and Intuit. The recognition comes on the heels of the publication naming eBay Inc. one of the world’s 50 most innovative companies.

In Fast Company’s discussion of PayPal, editors said, “In November 2009, PayPal made the radical move to open up its system to third-party developers and allow them to integrate its payment system into their web sites, mobile apps, and devices, which enabled all kinds of innovation in the past year.”

The PayPal portion of the Fast Company article follows here:

“For leading the charge on digital money. In November 2009, PayPal made the radical move to open up its system to third-party developers and allow them to integrate its payment system into their Web sites, mobile apps, and devices, which enabled all kinds of innovation in the past year. There are currently more than 15,000 developers working with its code, producing apps such as Bling Nation (tap to pay at offline merchants with an add-on sticker); iConcessionStand (order food and merchandise from a mobile device at sporting events); and IndieGoGo (fundraise for ideas or projects, a la Kickstarter).”

Citibank and SecondMarket finished in the second and third spots on the list, respectively.